The New Facebook Advertising Policy – a Step to Combat Fake News?

Every ad you have created, or will create, on Facebook or Instagram will now be plainly in view, accessible through your page.

It will be a beautiful archive of all your headlines, copy, creative and wit, clear as day for all targeting groups to see. The oldies will furrow their brows at all the #memes, males will delight in the softer creatives + emojis chosen for their female counterparts and, you guessed it, those political agendas will all be on show.

The new ad policy will take this to the next level by introducing ad archives.

But why is this important for you?

Historical View

It’s all on the table now. Eventually, the plan is to show the entire ads history of a page. It is unclear from statements released from Facebook whether this will go back to the dawn of time or from the date the new policy comes into effect. This means that you have to be very careful when sponsoring content, as you no longer have the luxury of quietly promoting your content to your niche & risk exposure if the wrong eyes spy your ad. Given your ad is now a lamb amongst wolves, make it relevant, fair, compliant and original.

Accountability

Simply, the new policy will make you more liable for your actions. Don’t write dodgy, misleading “last chance sale” type hooks which you promote over and over again as these will now be visible. Don’t be especially calculating & unfairly target groups/interests or individuals. Don’t have a crack with an unsavoury angle against a competitor. Don’t be a jerk, basically.

Morality

You will arrive at a new sense of heightened Advertising Morality. No longer will you skirt the edges of questionable content, stuck in the mire of singling out a particular group or interest. Nope, you’ll have to have your PC hat on at all times. This could mean you’ll have to think a bit harder now to stand out from the pack – content will become dry as advertisers find their footing around this new policy. It will be interesting to collect data from pages to understand how many people will actually visit the ad archives.

What to do next?

Better yet, give us a call to make sure you have your Facebook strategy perfected, your copy chiselled and your funnel ready to go so you’re in full stride for when the new policy kicks in, sometime next year.

Social is quickly becoming one of our favourite channels for lead generation, with the stakes becoming much higher over the next year.